HOMERuN Collaborative Educator's Corner: Using Teaching Time Efficiently

September 21, 2026

HOMERuN Educator's Corner

Using Teaching Time Efficiently

v1_RESIDENCY_LIFE_AND_CHALLENGES_LEADERSHIP_IN_MEDICINE_cultivating_leadership_skills_essential-step1-resident-physician-leading-a-multidiscip-8683 image

The Hospital Medicine Reengineering Network (HOMERuN) is a rapidly growing collaborative made up of more than 50 Hospital Medicine groups from academic and non-academic hospitals across the United States.

It can be challenging for academic hospitalists to balance the increasing clinical demands from hospital systems and time constraints while working with learners. We present a series of quick evidence-based educational tips to help hospitalists improve the efficiency and effectiveness of teaching rounds in this evolving landscape.

Using teaching time efficiently

By Lauren Damon, MD and Lucy Shi, MD

Scenario:

It is your first day on service in July on a teaching team with one resident, two interns, one 4th year acting intern, and two 3rd year medical students. One of the interns is presenting about a patient admitted overnight for a heart failure exacerbation. During the presentation, you identify multiple teaching points including clinical decision making about diuretic management, reviewing the ECG, CXR interpretation, goal-directed medical therapy, iron replacement, and bedside volume assessment.

Tip #1: Not all teaching has to happen during rounds. Consider what teaching points are most impactful during rounds versus what can be covered after rounds.

It can be tempting to immediately address all of the knowledge gaps you discover. However, attention fades as rounds get longer. Focus on one or two high-yield topics per patient during rounds.

Teaching topics that may work well during rounds include:

Physical exam
Complex decision making
Clinical reasoning
Patient communication

Topics that may benefit from dedicated time outside of rounds include:

Disease centered education (i.e., the latest guideline recommendations for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction)
Practice management (i.e., EMR tips, efficient chart review, insurance, etc)
Topics that require a longer time commitment
POCUS and procedures

Tip #2: You don't have to do all the teaching. Promote team members as educators and active learners.

Rather than addressing every teaching point yourself, assign teaching tasks and mobilize all of the team members to actively engage in the teaching process.

Foundational knowledge such as classic presentations of and risk factors for heart failure

Differential diagnosis of a chief complaint such as shortness of breath

Interpretation of commonly ordered labs and images such as CXR or ECG

Guideline-driven treatment strategies such as guideline recommendations for HFrEF treatment

Therapeutic decision-making such as diuretic dosing for the day

Clinical reasoning process such as highlighting pertinent or subtle clinical findings that help them determine when to switch from IV or PO diuretics

Offering reflections from their experience, such as when they involve consultants and typical management pitfalls

Frameworks to approach common conditions

Advanced clinical skills such as complex physical exam maneuvers, nuanced communication strategies, and shared decision-making

Interprofessional collaboration

Systems-based practice topics such as psychosocial barriers or optimizing discharge planning to avoid heart failure readmissions

Gonzalo JD, Heist BS, Duffy BL, et al.The art of bedside rounds: a multi-center qualitative study of strategies used by experienced bedside teachers . J Gen Intern Med. 2013;28(3):412-420.
Stetson G, Spicer J. (2021, Dec 21). #2 Level Up Your Rounding Skills - The Curbsiders. The Curbsiders - An Internal Medicine Podcast.
Newman, J.R., Hughes, D. Pearls of Wisdom from Teaching Rounds: Reconceptualizing “See One, Do One” as Social Learning. Med Sci Educ. 2025;35:303-309.
Houchens N, Harrod M, Moody S, Fowler K, Saint S. Techniques and Behaviors Associated with Exemplary Inpatient General Medicine Teaching: An Exploratory Qualitative Study. J Hosp Med. 2017;12(7):503-509.

How useful is this tip for your practice?

Brought to you by the Medical Education Workgroup.

Do you have comments or an idea for a future Educator's Corner? Email Lucy at lzshi@health.ucdavis.edu.

Check out the HOMERuN website for more information.

If you would like to join the HOMERuN Collaborative calls, please reach out to Tiffany.Lee@ucsf.edu.